Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Hayden's 1st Birthday Party!

As I mentioned in the last post, we celebrated Hayden's birthday last Saturday with a party at our home. We had friends and family over for food, cake and fun. I'm not big into character themed birthday parties and cakes and since Hayden doesn't have much of an opinion yet regarding these kinds of things, I did what I wanted- and that was simple and classic party food, made pretty.

As part of the decoration, Mr. H and I made a photo banner of Hayden, starting with a photo from when he was just hours old all the way up until 12 months. I love it!

I went for a buffet style setup so everyone could take and eat what they wanted, and used the cake as the centerpiece of the table. Here's what I made:

Last November I made a chocolate layer cake for a family friend (Hi Marnie!) and loved that cake so much. It really was one of the best chocolate cakes I've ever had and what sets it apart from others is that it's made with copious amounts of brown sugar. I knew I wanted that cake for Hayden's birthday so, I increased the recipe 1.5x and baked it in two 12-inch pans. I used a double recipe of my favorite cream cheese buttercream for the frosting because I wanted to be able to tint it a soft robin's egg blue.

One of my favorite photos from Hayden's party- I love the grin on his face as he feeds Autumn a rice krispie treat!

I fell in love with the Bunting Banner that Christa from Mini Baker made for a wedding shower cake a few weeks ago. I contacted her and we emailed back and forth and she made a custom birthday banner that read "Happy 1st Hayden" complete with hand painted blue stars. It turned out better than I expected and complimented the cake and decor. If you want one of your own, head on over to Mini Baker's Etsy Shop, browse around at her handmade items and place your order! She's got some cute stuff over there. Thanks Christa for working with me on such short notice- it turned out perfectly!

Hayden dug into his cake like a pro. At first it was just fingers in the frosting, then before you knew it he was shoving handfuls of the stuff into his mouth. Then he got to the cake part and started sharing with his Daddy and Autumn and was starting to make a mess on the floor. I don't really know why he started crying, but it was funny. A naked baby covered in cake with teary eyes is enough to make a sucker out of anyone. Silly boy.

And lastly here's a picture of the three of us, just after singing Happy Birthday. It was a great day and we're so blessed that we made it through Hayden's first year in tact and without any major injuries, growing better with each passing day. Happy Birthday Hayden, We love you!

And thank you to all of you who supported us, cheered us on and offered words of encouragement throughout the past year. We appreciate each and every one of you!

22 comments:

It seems such a short time ago that we were cheering your pregnancy on! Hayden is growing into the most adorable child--do I spy curls? Love the family photo at the end and Hayden eyeing his cake. You did a great job. I must warn you that, soon, he will be having a say into what he wants as a theme so enjoy the control while you have it.

It makes me so happy you gave him his own mini cake for his first birthday! That is the tradition in my family too, and I personally think it is an awesome one. Also, I am not a huge fan of layer cakes but think I might be making an exception for that one. YUM!

Happy 1st birthday to Hayden, he is growing up so so fast, curls yes, looks like he enjoyed his cake..I love that you made one just for him, loved the theme of the party, the cake and the food, will try to replicate the cake, it looks really yummy..congrats to you and your hubby for a year of great love, faith, delish recipes and most of all that little cuttee patoootey, Hayden, God Bless you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

LOL! On the last photo with you 3, Hayden is so focused on that cake haha. He is definitely your son haha. He's a lucky dude, too! He has the one of the best bakers/cooks around for a mother :). I miss you. Happy 1st birthday again, Hayden. :)

You are such an amazing mommy Monica! Another job well done! WOW! Such beautiful cakes, love the family picture, beautiful table setting! Just great! Happy Birthday again to Hayden! :) Such an adorable boy!

Hey Monica! I was just back searching for the apple cake recipe and came across this post! Happy birthday, Hayden!! It's Michelle--I wrote to you, inspired by your site when I was on bedrest for IC, and then we discovered that we had quite a bit in common :) We celebrated Thomas's 1st birthday this past June, my bedrest and preemie miracle :) I'm so glad to see Hayden as part of your family...mama love is like no other! Best wishes to you, and THANK YOU for sharing your talent with cooking with the world :) All the best, Michelle in Minnesota

Beautiful celebration! The photos are so adorable... I love the smash cake idea. I'm already dreaming of Max's first birthday celebration... something tells me it will be Phillies-themed, knowing his dad. If it was up to me he'd have a Muppets party. That boy doesn't even get a chance to develop interests-both his parents are big kids!

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Welcome To My Blog

My name is Monica and I'm a stay at home mom living in central Texas. I like to cook, but baking is my passion. I am an (obsessive) collector of cake stands, cookbooks and bakeware. I make lots of yummy treats and often share my sweet creations with friends, family and anyone else who is willing to be my guinea pig. I have lots of recipes in the archives so I hope you'll stick around for awhile!

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